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This is part 2 of our series about migrating servers and server applications to Microsoft Azure. Read part 1 of the series here.

Migrating to Azure from Windows Server 2003

It’s time for some not-so-breaking news. Windows Server 2003 support is ending on July 14, 2015. As of the date of this post, that is 245 days away. Factor in holidays and weekends, and there is not a lot of working time left. Are you ready to help your customers move off of Windows Server 2003?

We have many resources available to partners that will prepare you to help your customers. Let’s take a closer look at these resources with a four-step process in mind: discover, assess, target, and migrate.

Step 1 – Discover

Start by making a list of the servers that are running Windows Server 2003. Don’t forget to note for each whether it is running the 32-bit or 64-bit version, as that will come in handy later.

This presentation and demo from TechEd 2014 gives an overview of the opportunity and the process.

Step 2 – Assess

Now that you have your list, it is time to answer these three questions for each server:

What is the server doing today?

Is what the server is doing critical, or can it be retired?

Is the server running an application that can be upgraded to run on a more modern version of Windows or as a SaaS application?

To make the assessments, there are several tools from Microsoft and third-party providers that can help. I haven’t had the chance to review all of these, but I encourage you to check them out and see if they address your needs.

Streamlines migrations by discovering apps and app components from machines in production, and pre-populating VAAs with static application artifacts from source machines while the apps are still in production.

Now that you’ve assessed the servers and applications, it is time to determine what to do with each of them. We call this setting a target. As shown below, you may have different targets for the various workloads.

This is where knowing whether apps and servers are 32-bit or 64-bit comes into play. A Windows Server 2003 64-bit could, hardware permitting, be upgraded in-place to Windows Server 2008 and then to Windows Server 2012. A 32-bit OS can only go as far as Windows Server 2008. To go to Windows Server 2012, you have to plan to migrate the applications vs. doing an in-place upgrade.

While setting the target for your servers and apps, consider migrating them to run on Microsoft Azure. You may be able to run a Virtual Machine to host the workload, or you may be able to migrate the app to run as a Software as a Service app (we’ll cover this topic in an upcoming post). If the physical server needs to be replaced, Azure can be a cost-effective replacement when you consider the price of new hardware and the speed of deployment.

During this step the list of servers to migrate may grow to be quite large. In this case there are two things that can help. One, assign a priority to each workload. Two, remember that on Azure you can spin up a virtual machine in minutes. There is no time spent procuring hardware, waiting for shipment, installing it, installing and patching the OS, etc. So if you need to move fast, Azure VMs are a great option. Oh, and don’t forget that if the workload ever needs to move back on premise you can move the Azure VM to Hyper-V very easily.

The Azure Cost Estimator Tool will profile VMware/ESX, Virtual Machine Manager, Hyper-V, and physical servers over a period of time, report resource consumption, and align it to resources and VM sizes within Microsoft Azure.

Step 4 – Migrate

Now that you’ve set the targets, it is time to migrate. There are resources and training available to help you with this step.

This course will show you how Windows Server 2012 can ease your transition, not merely in upgrading earlier versions of Windows Server, but also ensuring that your key services can be migrated in an efficient, cost-effective and safe manner.

Identifies, extracts, and moves enterprise Windows server applications to any server – physical or virtual – anywhere (cloud or datacenter) without AppZero software on the source server, and with no change to the source application.

Migrates physical, virtual, and cloud server workloads with real-time replication. Moves your entire server environment including the system state and file system without suspending or interrupting production operations.

The fast-approaching end of support for Windows Server 2003 presents opportunities for you to help your customers get current and stay supported. We’ll talk about this topic in depth on our November 20 US Azure Partner Community call. Register today to join us.